For someone who didn’t start dancing until early high school, France (Mayotte) Hunter has certainly experienced her share of success. The Wisconsin native fell in love with dance as a teenager after watching the film The Red Shoes about a woman so obsessed with the role she is preparing that she dances herself to death. “There was something so romantic about it,” Hunter says. Once she started, she never stopped and since then has danced her way through life as an actress, model, teacher and movement and executive coach.

ON HER NAME: “I’m kind of the odd one in my family. All of my other siblings were blond and blue-eyed. They thought they’d give me an odd name, I guess.”

HER BIG BREAK: After completing her M.F.A. in Los Angeles, Hunter packed up for New York en route to an open audition for dancers for a movie. It was 1979, and the legendary Twyla Tharp was choreographing the film adaptation of the musical Hair. “It was just myself and a few thousand dancers in the city,” Hunter says with a laugh. “I was newly in New York, so I didn’t know what to expect or even to be nervous because I just needed a job.” She landed it and went on to dance with Tharp’s touring troupe for three years.

BROADWAY BABY: Following the birth of her first son, Hunter landed the role of Consuelo in the Broadway revival of West Side Story – every dancer’s dream, she says – and later reprised her role in the Paris production.

ON DANCERS: “Dancers are extraordinary people. They have to be very disciplined, and they really have to be looking at themselves all the time. It’s a personal journey of self-discovery. There’s no downtime in that.”

KEEPING THE ARTS RELEVENT: Hunter, who spends her spare moments teaching mind/ body integration to executives at corporations like People magazine and the Home Shopping Network, calls herself a crusader for the arts: “It’s crucial because they’re in great jeopardy of becoming extinct. I think we have to keep working really hard at keeping the arts vital. Everybody’s engaged in the creative process in some way or another – we’re all creative.”

“Dancers are extraordinary people. They have to be very disciplined, and they really have to be looking at themselves all the time. It’s a personal journey of self-discovery.”

For someone who didn’t start dancing until early high school, France (Mayotte) Hunter has certainly experienced her share of success. The Wisconsin native fell in love with dance as a teenager after watching the film The Red Shoes about a woman so obsessed with the role she is preparing that she dances herself to death. “There was something so romantic about it,” Hunter says. Once she started, she never stopped and since then has danced her way through life as an actress, model, teacher and movement and executive coach.

ON HER NAME: “I’m kind of the odd one in my family. All of my other siblings were blond and blue-eyed. They thought they’d give me an odd name, I guess.”

HER BIG BREAK: After completing her M.F.A. in Los Angeles, Hunter packed up for New York en route to an open audition for dancers for a movie. It was 1979, and the legendary Twyla Tharp was choreographing the film adaptation of the musical Hair. “It was just myself and a few thousand dancers in the city,” Hunter says with a laugh. “I was newly in New York, so I didn’t know what to expect or even to be nervous because I just needed a job.” She landed it and went on to dance with Tharp’s touring troupe for three years.

BROADWAY BABY: Following the birth of her first son, Hunter landed the role of Consuelo in the Broadway revival of West Side Story – every dancer’s dream, she says – and later reprised her role in the Paris production.

ON DANCERS: “Dancers are extraordinary people. They have to be very disciplined, and they really have to be looking at themselves all the time. It’s a personal journey of self-discovery. There’s no downtime in that.”

KEEPING THE ARTS RELEVENT: Hunter, who spends her spare moments teaching mind/ body integration to executives at corporations like People magazine and the Home Shopping Network, calls herself a crusader for the arts: “It’s crucial because they’re in great jeopardy of becoming extinct. I think we have to keep working really hard at keeping the arts vital. Everybody’s engaged in the creative process in some way or another – we’re all creative.”

RWU on the road

ESL Program

Roger Williams University English as a Second Language Options

Whether you're interested in coming to the United States for college, need to take English to advance your career or simply want to improve your English-speaking skills, the ELS Language Center at Roger Williams University can help you meet your goals. The ELS Center at Roger Williams University is an authorized TOEFLi BT testing center and is proud to offer both intensive and semi-intensive English programs.

As a student at the ELS Center, you will have full acess to the University and all its facilities -- from studying in the libraries to taking meals in the dining commons and kayaking on the waterfront.

The following options are available through the ELS Center at Roger Williams University:

RWU ESL Bridge Program

For those international students whose test scores indicate that they would benefit from additional English as a Second Language (ESL) support, we offer the RWU ESL Bridge Program. This program allows advanced-level ESL students to take appropriate ESL courses in addition to their academic courses, supplemented by ESL tutoring in preparation for taking a full-time academic course load. This program is for non-native English speaking students interested in RWU's undergraduate program with a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) greater than 500 Paper/173 Computer/61 Internet and less than 550/213/79 or who have completed level 109 at an ELS Language Center.

The ELS Language Center offers an Intensive English program to beginner and intermediate level ESL students whose test scores do not qualify them for admission to Roger Williams University. ELS Language Center students attend classes on campus and take advantage of many other campus amenities. This program is for non-native English speaking students interested in RWU's undergraduate program who do not submit evidence of English proficiency or have a TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) less than 500 Paper/173 Computer/61 Internet.

ELS Language Center at RWU - ESL Study Only

ELS Language Center also offers beginning through advanced level courses for students interested in enrolling in an ESL Program without intention of enrolling in the RWU undergraduate program.